Release Management

Prepare a MockServer Release

Use this workflow before triggering the mockserver-release Buildkite pipeline.

Required Inputs

Inspect these sources every time:

• changelog.md — especially the ## [Unreleased] section
• mockserver/pom.xml — current development -SNAPSHOT version
• .buildkite/release-pipeline.yml — supported release parameters and automated steps
• docs/operations/release-process.md — operator-facing release guidance
• Git tags matching mockserver-X.Y.Z — latest numeric release is the authoritative old-version

If AWS access is available, also verify the required secrets exist and contain the expected keys without printing secret values.

Version Recommendation Rules

Recommend the next release from the latest numeric mockserver-X.Y.Z tag, not from the current -SNAPSHOT alone.

Apply these rules in order:

1. Major release — if any unreleased changelog bullet is explicitly marked BREAKING:
2. Minor release — if there are meaningful bullets under Added or Changed and no BREAKING: markers
3. Patch release — if there are only meaningful bullets under Fixed
4. Block release — if the unreleased changelog is empty, vague, or not ready to publish

Definitions:

• A "meaningful bullet" is a non-empty - ... entry
• BREAKING: should appear at the start of an unreleased bullet when a major version bump is intended

Derived values:

• release-version: recommended SemVer release
• next-version: release-version patch increment plus -SNAPSHOT
• old-version: latest numeric mockserver-X.Y.Z tag
• release-type: full unless the user explicitly wants a partial rerun
• create-versioned-site: yes for major or minor releases, no for patch releases

Readiness Checks

Validate each of these before declaring the release ready:

1. changelog.md has meaningful unreleased bullets
2. changelog.md does not already contain a section for the proposed release-version
3. mockserver/pom.xml is currently on an X.Y.Z-SNAPSHOT version
4. The pipeline supports the required outputs for this release:
   • Maven Central core artifacts
   • mockserver-maven-plugin
   • Docker Hub and AWS ECR Public images
   • mockserver-node
   • mockserver-client
   • Helm
   • Javadoc
   • SwaggerHub / OpenAPI
   • website
   • JSON Schema
   • PyPI
   • RubyGems
   • GitHub Release
5. Required secrets are present:
   • mockserver-build/sonatype
   • mockserver-build/dockerhub
   • mockserver-build/pypi
   • mockserver-build/rubygems
   • mockserver-release/gpg-key
   • mockserver-release/github-token
   • mockserver-release/totp-seed
   • mockserver-release/npm-token
   • mockserver-release/swaggerhub
   • mockserver-release/website-role

Output Format

Return a concise release-preparation report with these sections:

Recommendation

• release-version
• next-version
• old-version
• release-type
• create-versioned-site

Rationale

• Explain why the bump is major, minor, or patch
• Cite the relevant changelog bullets and release tag comparison

Readiness

• changelog: pass/fail with reason
• version state: pass/fail with current snapshot version
• secrets: pass/fail with missing items, if any
• pipeline coverage: pass/fail with any remaining gaps

Manual Follow-up

Steps outside — or not guaranteed by — the automated pipeline:

• Homebrew — not a manual step; do not report it as one. Both formulae publish automatically and need no action:

  • Homebrew/homebrew-core (mockserver, JAR-based) is bumped by BrewTestBot from the *-brew-tar.tar artifact on Maven Central, typically within a few hours (docs/operations/release-process.md §9).
  • mock-server/homebrew-tap (self-contained bundle) is pushed by the pipeline's own homebrew step (§11).

  Only intervene if BrewTestBot has not opened a PR a day or two after release — §9 lists what to check, and brew bump-formula-pr --strict --version=<release-version> mockserver is the fallback for a broken bot, not the normal path.

• SwaggerHub — the swaggerhub pipeline step is soft_fail: true, so a failure never blocks the release. Publishing via the SwaggerHub Registry API needs account / API-plan access the pipeline cannot guarantee — the write endpoint can return 403/404 even with a valid key on an account without it. The step is kept in the pipeline so it publishes automatically if that access is ever in place; but if it soft-fails, upload the spec manually: open https://app.swaggerhub.com, go to the jamesdbloom/mock-server-openapi API, and add the new version from mockserver/mockserver-core/src/main/resources/org/mockserver/openapi/mock-server-openapi-embedded-model.yaml (the web UI needs no API key). This may become fully automatic if SwaggerHub changes that API behaviour.

Monitor & Verify

Always include this section verbatim so the operator can watch the release land. Substitute the chosen release-version into the URLs:

• Sonatype Central Portal (live deployment status): https://central.sonatype.com/publishing/deployments
• Central Portal artifact view: https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/org.mock-server/mockserver-netty/
• Live at Maven Central (canonical "released" signal — returns 200 once synced): https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/mock-server/mockserver-netty//
• Maven Central search (browse all org.mock-server artifacts): https://central.sonatype.com/search?namespace=org.mock-server&sort=published
• Docker Hub tags: https://hub.docker.com/r/mockserver/mockserver/tags
• npm — mockserver-node: https://www.npmjs.com/package/mockserver-node
• npm — mockserver-client-node: https://www.npmjs.com/package/mockserver-client-node
• PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/mockserver-client/
• RubyGems: https://rubygems.org/gems/mockserver-client
• GitHub Releases: https://github.com/mock-server/mockserver/releases
• Buildkite pipeline: https://buildkite.com/mockserver/mockserver-release

Notes

• Prefer explicit evidence from the repo over assumptions
• If the changelog suggests a major bump but no BREAKING: marker exists, call that out and ask the user whether the release should be treated as breaking before finalising the recommendation
• If the user asks to run a partial rerun, keep release-version and old-version consistent with the already-published release and explain which downstream steps will be skipped